2014 as you may recall was ‘The Year of Sonic’ and lets be honest, it was pretty awful, in fact it was one of the worst years for decades which finished with one of the worst games for decades. So 2015 couldn’t be any worse right? 2015 had to be better right?
Well… in around 3 days time it will be 2016, so how have the last 360ish days been if you are a Sonic fan? Well… Urm…
This is how 2015 feels if you are a Sonic fan.
Imagine the videogame industry is having a big party! One fan from each fandom is invited to attend, it’s at a house, the parents are out of town and won’t be back for several days. The Sonic fan can be represented as that guy who goes to the party, sits or stands in the corner for the whole night, with a drink in his hand, a nervous smile on his face, who doesn’t talk to anyone, nobody speaks to, except for the host who may say “Hey you enjoying yourself” to which they reply “Yeah I’m having a great time!”
That’s the entire conversation they have for the whole night.
But they’re there, they turn up, just so that the next day they can join in with the conversation about being at the party, and how they pretended to have a good time. That’s what this year feels like.
Why do I feel this? Well… lets sum up all the things which stand out from this year and you’ll see why.
Sonic Runners
2015 started out with something utterly incredible. This went from being one of the best Sonic games in years, to quite possibly one of the worst Sonic games of all time and has continued on a downward spiral ever since.
When this game launched earlier this year in its soft launch form, it was really fun, the micro transactions were seen as an optional extra, players were rewarded for effort which didn’t require a huge dedication of time and energy, it was a fantastic little game to play in your spare time and on commuter trips.
Then they launched it worldwide and oh my goodness what a train wreck. Players were not punished if not held at ransom for progression, you had to spend in game currency to progress and you were dragged kicking and screaming to the store to buy red rings and then made to sit and watch adverts just so you could actually get a high score.
In the months since then, there has been nothing but problems, at one point I made an article asking Sega to fix the game because it was so bad and acting in many ways like a virus on some devices thanks to the fact it was clogging up memory with useless files.
But it’s not ended there, at one point the game was unfairly banning players due to them getting insane high scores thanks to a poorly designed event. I’ve not even bothered to do an article on that spike wall thing because frankly why are people still shocked and surprised given the track record of this game.
In 2015, Sega released a game which held players for ransom, encouraged gambling to pre teens, acted like a computer virus, was a technical mess, unfairly banned players from events and continues to suffer from technical and design problems.
How can I defend that? How can Sega defend that? How can anyone defend it? Why are people still supporting it? I stopped playing this game several months ago, having spent £0.00 on it because it was so bad. Which I find amazing since I loved the soft launch version so much, I came astonishingly close to buying some red rings just so I could support the game in some way since it was providing me with so much fun. Now however, I just think it’s abysmal.
Runners turned out to be so bad, I am now extremely hesitant to install any future Sega games onto my mobile devices, Runners was so awful and caused my device so many problems I frankly do not trust Sega that much anymore with the mobile market.
So what else happened in 2015?
Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice Announced, Delayed, Cancelled
Does this game actually exist? Are Sanzaru actually working on this? Just that for a game which was due out in November 2015, which was announced on June 9th 2015 there has been no new information about it other than ‘it’s delayed’. What is going on with this game? I’ve asked this before and then barely a week later we found out it had been delayed so who knows maybe this will prompt some kind of response.
Yeah we get it, it’s probably going to be somewhat average, but hiding it away (if indeed Sanzaru are working on it) isn’t going to help much, if anything it’s going to hurt sales more keeping it quiet than showing something which isn’t that great if indeed there are problems with it.
Now some people are going to try and defend this move by saying “Well it’s only a handheld TV show spinoff” to that I say, ‘what difference does that make’ you’ve still got the brand IP on the box, you’re still representing the franchise by releasing this, it’s going to impact the franchise and either improve or lower it’s reputation, why the silence? The game was due out over a month ago, why hasn’t it had a second trailer or even some new screenshots released? I could train my cat to pee “Sonic Boom” into the snow and it would be more promotion/acknowledgement than Sega have given this game.
It honestly feels like the game has been cancelled, I know I’m not the only one who thinks this, people are already openly talking about how they think that the game has been cancelled or that it never existed in the first place, that Sega is just waiting for the next big Sonic game announcement to come so they can bury the news with better news.
Boom Series 1 finished.
Boom finished it’s first series, it was pretty good, so good in fact there’s going to be a second. Not sure what else to say on this one other than it was a decent show which has some flaws but otherwise it’s a good show which did so well it got a second season.
Which is good, no really it’s good.
Sonic & Sometimes Sticks & MegaMan & Capcom Cross Over
Archie comics did a cross over event! It was not very good. That is all.
Boom Toys did great? They did right?
You know… I want to say that these did really really well… and they did, they sold out in a lot of stores and Tomy is expanding the range. But… is it just me, or at least for UK peoples, it’s amazingly hard to find certain figures? I’m sure my local Entertainer has only had 2 Eggman figures in and Orbot & Cutbot are also hard to find.
It seems that we have another case of the F4F mini Super Sonic’s, too few stock so it looks like the figures are doing better than they may seem.
But they have to be doing well otherwise Tomy would never agree to expanding the range as much as this, but it just feels really hard to find some of it.
More Stuff Got Cancelled.
So other than Boom Fie & ice being cancelled delayed, a lot of other stuff got cancelled or put on indefinite delay too. Some of it sounded really cool or at least somewhat interesting.
Sonic Central App is still a thing apparently.
Announced at the same time of Sonic Boom Fire & Ice, Sonic Central, the app for all things Sonic was supposed to be out in the Summer, however it is now missing, presumed frightened and hungry. However Sega still insists that it is still in development & more information will be available soon… this was 2 months ago.
Sonic X Hello Kitty for Europe is Missing.
This is really getting annoying now. This first got announced several years ago and was quite a big thing in Japan, then last year it was promised for Europe this year… and… nothing. No news from either Sanrio or Sega as to what happened with this.
Sonic X Doodle Jump figures are missing.
Announced at toy fair 2014, expected release was 2014-2015… Never to be seen again.
Pretty much everything from Brand License Europe 2014
Not just the Sonic stuff, The football manager store, all the licenses with the other Sega franchises, all the news, all the items shown in this video, very few of the products saw a release. There’s even a Sega Central video showing the booth and tons of products yet few made it to stores.
Sonic Dash 2 Came Out
Sonic Dash 2 is a videogame which came out, and that’s pretty much all you can say on it. We reviewed it. But really what else can you say on this?
Breaking News, There is No Sonic Movie News
All we know is that it’s not cancelled. A whole year of no information. What else can you say?
This Sounds bad… Was it?
Ok, that’s not everything I know, but it’s all which could come to mind and when I asked people on SSMB for their initial thoughts, this is all what we could come up with, but… thinking harder, no it wasn’t that bad. There was a lot of good stuff too, some of which is unsung and some of which needs more glory put on it.
First 4 Figures Let Fans Design the 25th Anniversary Statue
Being a bit selfish with this one since they used my suggestion but… hey it was pretty epic so why not be? Early in the year, in fact it was the day I went on my vacation, First 4 Figures asked fans to pitch ideas for the 25th Anniversary Sonic Statue.
Holy cow they were not expecting the response they got!
Tons of ideas were submitted, even drawings and sketches were submitted showing a range of ideas. However the one which people seemed to like the best was the one I came up with, since then they have asked fans questions and refined the design a little, even asking fans to vote on a colour scheme.
You can bet that this one will be a big seller when it eventually goes on sale.
The Sonic Social Media Accounts Go Fast For Great Justice
The Sonic Social Media accounts used to be these things which were just sorta there, they would occasionally announce things, do competitions, post trailers for games, really they just existed, like millions of twitter accounts, they just were…
Then Aaron Webber, came back to Sega and took over the social media accounts, what followed is one of the best moves Sega have made in ages. These are my thoughts on the matter.
Boom and to an extent Sonic Lost World didn’t do much for Sonic’s reputation, Boom effectively undid 3 years worth of work in building a franchises reputation, with the delay in Boom 2 Fire/Ice, there is nothing to promote the brand as a game in a positive light.
So what can you do? You have to embrace everything, even the bad. What has been a joke by the fans is now a joke by the brand, it’s no longer a ‘protective’ thing which must not be officially commented on, instead of keeping fans at arms length and saying “You can have your fun, but… we can’t join in” it’s become “You guys look like you’re having a lot of fun with our brand, can we come and play too?”
I for one think this is great, whilst the quality of the games is still a big question mark which will be judged when the time comes, in terms of doing the brand favours, I personally think everything that Aaron has done so far has been right. If I look at all the social media stuff, there is not one thing which has been done which harms the brand, in fact he’s single handily made Sonic relevant with these short term interactions with fans and non fans. Look how much Sonic’s tweets have been re-tweeted and favourites following Webber’s appointment, just compare it to even the most popular or engaging tweets from before he got free reign on the accounts, it’s sky-rocketed and not for bad reasons.
Now some people, have been quite vocal in their dislike about it, to the point where it looks like they’re practically crying brats at everything it does. Ok, I get it, not everything is funny, heck I don’t laugh at all the stuff posted, but some of it is funny, and you cannot deny that on sites which used to snort and laugh at Sonic, they now talk fondly of it and it’s due to the twitter account bringing attention to the brand again.
But some people it seems are almost going out of their way to try and convince others that it’s not good, to the point where they are demanding people be sacked from their jobs… just because they don’t find a joke funny.
If you are one of these people who are constantly bashing it, you know these people, the ones who you can guess are going to hate it because that’s what they do, the people who think it’s ruining the brand because… you know, you don’t know their reasons, these people. You know, that kind of person. I have one thing to say to you, I’m not angry at you for disliking something I like, I feel sorry for you. I feel sorry for you because, you don’t want to join in the fun, you don’t want to be part of this party, you just want to sit there and be angry at something which ultimately doesn’t really matter since we’ll ultimately judge the franchise on the games, especially since the guy running the social media account doesn’t make the games. Your anger makes no sense.
Why are you so angry? The only reason I can see is because you either dislike the guy running it for reasons nobody understands, or because you’re just an angry person. Even harsh critics of Sonic, such as Jim Sterling & IGN have come out and said that the Sonic twitter account burnt them good, they’re joining in with the joke and the party, it’s giving so many people pleasure, laughter and joy, and you just feel hatred and disgust, how sorry for you, you don’t get to feel that enjoyment which so many others are.
Before Webber took over and started doing what he did, you never had people like Kel “Who loves orange Soda” Mitchell openly referencing the account, you never had direct interactions with the fans. Since the twitter accounts was taken over, the brand image has improved a lot.
Now, that said, there is a risk that the joke can get old, even I am starting to become a little bored with “Sanic” I think it’s time to move on now.
Oh don’t worry, despite what gets posted on twitter, critics and I include myself in this are not going to turn a blind eye to when products put out by the company are bad, or are good, we’ll shine a spotlight on both.
If the next Sonic game ends up being a broken mess, I will be the first to ask for answers as to why it turned out the way it did and calling people out on it, but for the engagement with the fans and how it’s tried to turn around a negative image. But in terms of trying to curb the negativity from bad products, the Sonic Social Media accounts are doing a fantastic job, which is what a brand twitter account is supposed to do.
Sega of Europe Hires An Awesome Community Manager & He Does Awesome Things Which Nobody Notices
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkAAiq2j_ro
Everybody by now knows that AAUK was the EU community manager for a good few years, and he left several years ago… since then, there hasn’t really been a face for the community side in Europe, however, a few months ago, Sega hired Dan Sheridan to be the new community manager for Europe.
He has only been in the role for a few months now, but my god his impact has been huge!
Within the first week he was engaging with fans through the official YouTube channel, he was actively organising a launch party for Sonic Lost World on PC, of which anyone could attend and an open bar! This is unheard of!
Since then he’s ran tons of competitions, all that epic promotional merchandise which gets released for various games has started to get in the hands of fans where it belongs, not just limited to Sonic, I’ve spotted Alien & even Shenmue merch being given away!
Matt form the Tails Channel was on a short trip to the UK, asks offhand if he can come visit Sega, is told “Sure come on down, hey you wanna be in our next official video!?” That… didn’t used to happen!
There was a parade in Hamleys which I suspect Dan had a hand in and the Sega Central video series has improved a lot from how it was originally too, it’s not perfect but my god the quality has vastly improved over what it was like before he got on board.
Seriously, Dan has done a tremendous job despite only being in the role for a few months, the fan engagement and promotion of the brand has been pretty superb.
Sonic Lost World Gets a PC Release & It’s… Ok
Look, Sonic Lost World isn’t the best game ever, it’s also not the worst, but it got released on the PC for a budget price with the NiGHTS DLC included, it actually runs pretty well even on lower end systems.
Even fears that it wouldn’t cross over well due to the Wii U’s touch screen controls are unfounded.
I’m ok with this. It’s an OK game being re-released on a new platform and you now have the PC modding community going at it like busy bees which is going to extend it’s appeal further.
Its not harming anyone, it’s not harming the series, it exists, it’s ok, and it’s there. I’m ok with this.
2016 Predictions
Well… it’s the 25th Anniversary. So odds are there will be something big, already we know from the event in Japan that there will be some special events. F4F & Tomy have also let slip special 25th Anniversary things.
My thoughts.
2016, it’ll be a classic.
Disclaimer: The views in this piece may not reflect the views of TSS or other writers on the staff team. The intention of The Spin is to promote debate and discussion of an issue or something that’s happening in the fandom or the world of Sonic.
2015 was the most quiet year for Sonic, sure. But, how much “classic style” we can got? Sonic 4: EP1&2+Metal, Sonic Generations, Sonic Runners, Sonic Lost World, my gosh, It’s okay to have some classic style in some games, and some even have a 100% classic touch, but,
THIS IS GETTING TIRING. Almost every year we got a new album for Sonic Adventure, and even with this (I know, this is not that much), Sonic Team still don’t think they are ready for a Sonic Adventure 3? Or a new thing? Classic is cool, but everything classic for some years is getting out of the control. If 2016 mean a new classic Sonic game developed for 3 years, it’s gonna be awesome (maybe?), but at the same way, tiring. We need something really new, using Modern Sonic, no Boom Sonic, no Classic Sonic, no spin-offs, just this. (and the movie <3). It's my opinion.
I don’t think Fire and Ice is cancelled, I think they’re just being careful with it. Look at Mario & Sonic at the Rio Olympic games, When it first got announced it got little to no info on it, now just yesterday we got the full roster and a release date for japan. Give it time, Sanzu did a good job on Shattered Crystal and took fan feedback to help improve this game. Give it time and a little faith.
Shattered crystal was about Lost World 3ds quality. In other words,don’t give them that much credit for a still boring game at best.
I didn’t think it was boring. Lost world on 3ds was a train wreck, but shattered crystal was pretty fun, better than Generations and Lost World’s 3ds ports that’s for sure
well the classic sonic games was ok for me but some people don’t want another sonic boom game they just want modern sonic back good as new :/
Good Summary. I personally don’t think Fire & Ice got cancelled. I think its silence is more a reflection of SEGA as a whole, rather than of the game itself. SEGA has done jack shit this year, except being quiet, delaying games, and talking about next year. I think we’ll see Fire & Ice in Q2 Next year, and the silence is more because SEGA executives just haven’t been green-lighting trailers and the like, and have been focusing more on the restructure. Maybe that’s optimistic, but I’d rather not assume the worst until there’s some evidence to that notion. And no, I don’t count a lack of evidence as evidence.
Wait a minute, people are complaining about Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice being delayed? After the last Sonic Boom games, and the very obvious thing SEGA/Sonic Team has had against delaying games in past, people are COMPLAINING? It’s GREAT news. It shows that they weren’t just going to rush it simply because it’d the first non-mobile/non-PC/rerelease Sonic game of the year. They’re being careful with it, they’re hopefully being productive with it. They showed a lot of pretty neat stuff earlier in the year anyways, hopefully we’ll get more news for it sooner rather than later, but still. To think that the delay of the game was a bad thing doesn’t make any sense, when people have complained about Sonic games in the past not being delayed.
Well, there’s a faction of the fanbase which would have liked the game to be released this year as a way of just getting it over with before the 25th anniversary. Those fans generally dislike the concepts in Fire and Ice (or even the concept of Boom itself) but feel that since the game had been in development long before it was announced or SC was released, Sega was stuck in a position where it would have been unideal to cancel the game outright. Alternatively, some feel that it has no chance of competing with the much-anticipated 25th anniversary game coming out next year. Thus, it would be most noticed and thus most bought if it came out this year rather than next years.
As for why people are complaining about the game’s delay indicating a cancellation of some kind, it likely comes from the fact that Fire and Ice went from being hyped as the big thing this year to being unspoken by official Sega sources seemingly overnight. Months later, the game is suddenly announced as delayed, and Sanzaru announces a big VR project that its been working on for a few months shortly after the delay. This comes off as a bit fishy…
As for me, well, I’m with you that the delay will be good long-term. If Fire and Ice is a good game, it will win people over. Look at Boom TV for an example of a Sonic media that was roundly criticized and laughed at when it was first announced, but is now popular enough to get a second season which was met with much rejoicing. If it isn’t, well, the hype for the 2016 game will surely overshadow it. I think patience is key here.
My main worry with the social media accounts since Aaron Webber came back to SEGA, is that people aren’t going to take it seriously anymore when the accounts go back to announcing Sonic news, posting trailers, etc again and expect everything the accounts posts from now on are Sonic jokes. I bet a lot of the new followers aren’t even fans of Sonic, or care about the series at all, and they’re only there for the internet memes. I don’t mind memes every now and then, but I think it’s a little too much. I like Aaron Webber, and I’m happy he’s back. He communicates with the fans and has a lot of knowledge when it comes to the Sonic series. But I hope by 2016 he ease up on the memes and the social media accounts goes back to posting news again.
What’s wrong with the people following not being sonic fans? Maybe they’ll become fans, after following sonic news amidst funnies. People may come for the funnies and leave with anticipation for sonic games. There’s not really anything wrong with bringing people onto the Sonic twitter. If it announces news, when there is news, and makes jokes when there isn’t it can bring in new audiences, and new fans into the sonic fanbase. Even if all somebody likes is the twitter, it’s still more sonic love being spread around. Even if you’d like it to be for the games, there’s nothing wrong with people loving the franchise for a different reason.
Yeah, you’re right. There’s nothing wrong with people who are not fans following the accounts, and this is bringing in new people to the series and people might want show interest in the series. I have to admit that it is sometimes amusing and it’s a distraction from the lack of Sonic news. But I hope all the funnies don’t turn against them in the long run, and they have something that is significant and worthwhile in 2016 that makes up for this lackluster year.
guys lets hope that SEGA don’t do any mistakes but back in February alot of few workers lost there jobs our of 75% of there cut backs and some employees have to find another job also if you think that sonic 06 is bad then its ok to say it but the game was out 10 years ago and we still don’t have any decent sonic adventure game lately in years so my guess is that lets hope the 25th anniversary go so well and be release in all home consoles :/
And just as I thought you were speaking coherent English, you screw it up again.
i agree SEGA could at least give us what we wanted so far for so long and i’m barely notice that something is gonna be big next year.
I agree with everything you said here especially regarding sonic runners. I really hope the anniversary game will be a great game making this one quiet year worth it. With no significant sonic games released this year, I kept myself busy by giving Mario and Zelda games a try which I actually liked. I’m sick of everyone making fun of Sonic games and just hope future games will really make all those haters “eat their words”
I’m not a fan of change, and the Sonic Boom concept is something I still don’t understand.
Perhaps if the games had been good I would have accepted it, the TV show was disappointing in my eyes. Sorry, I just don’t understand why every character is so annoying. Sticks is the only thing I could enjoy because she is her own character and not “beloved character #6” with an alternate design, personality, and voice.
The only thing I could ask of Sega now is to green-lit a Sonic game for 3DS with the same gameplay as the Advance/Rush series but no 3D models. A game worth a damn, that makes you want to go back to it. Last year I played through SLW on 3DS and haven’t been able to return to it after I finished it, this is because the game is just frustrating and tedious to play.
Sucks to be a Sonic fan right now.
I lost interest in Sonic Boom very quickly. I think the show is cute, but the episodes are terse, and they lead nowhere. It’s mindless. It’s like being on a brief sugar-high. …No lasting impression, no emotional attachment. Moving on.
The games were pure fecal waste. Don’t defend any of it, it’s NOT what we come to expect from a multi-billion-dollar company. Sonic is a gaming icon, and he is NOT being treated as such.
Merch sucked. It was all junk.
Comics lost me. Childish and plain. Shallow.
So yeah… Sonic had a wretched year. And I’m not gonna be the guy who sits there and goes “Next year might be great!”, because the decline in quality was so abrupt and so disparaging that my faith in it is sleeping next to the bones of a stegosaurus.
I’m not cynical. I’ve given a lot of crap the benefit of the doubt, but watching Sonic become what it is, and watching the fans cling to it like its their lifeblood is depressing and breaks my heart. I grew up with Sonic. My first game was Sonic 2. Wanna know how I feel?
I feel tired. I don’t care. Sega knows what they want. They can have it.
Enjoyed it for the most part save for two things.
First of all, as nice a job as he’s done perhaps, WAY too much Aaron Webber butt kissing, seriously, your face wreaks after this dude.
Secondly, it wasn’t necessary to shame those who have detest for the current direction social media wise, no need to shun them/antagonize them. People have different tastes, don’t rant about it, you lose a lot of maturity and respectability. This too goes hand in hand with the butt kissing. Waaaaaay too much man.
That aside, loved the summary. But seriously, we do NOT need anymore shunning/antagonizing in this fan base, next time, try leaving that out.
It’s not butt kissing. He’s done a great job, so he should be told. If he does a bad job I’ll let him know. Ask Stephen Frost.
I don’t need to ask anyone, I know he’s done fine. It was just too greatly emphasized. But when you’ve got little to talk about asides his work, at the same time it can be understood. I just wouldn’t do it that much nonetheless.
I don’t think people are aware of the impact that Webber’s meme-filled tweets had on Sonic as a whole, and how much did it aided his public perception, decrying things about the franchise being a joke now.
Be honest, before SEGA supposedly made Sonic a “joke”, The Sonic Brand WAS a joke (hell, to the majority, it’s still IS a joke). The games has been roller coaster of inconsistent results that just kept lowering and lowering the bar; Even the good ones like Unleashed, Colors and Generations all met with a resounding “it was pretty good”. No Sonic game outside the Mario Olympic games has been a top seller in years. Nobody really cares about the quality of Sonic outside his loyal fanbase and large group of gamers who clings too close to nostalgia. Plus, thanks to game journalists and video personalities (who most likely either grew up with a Nintendo system, was never attached to Sonic or one of the many ex-Sonic fans who became bitter after so many failures), it’s “cool” to hate on the little blue guy (No, not Mega Man; everyone just throws him pity party after pity party). Just about the only other good thing that happened to Sonic this year is the surprise life expectancy of The Sonic Boom CARTOON, despite the poison the game left every other portion of the sub-brand
So it may look like that from a immediate perspective, that Aaron and his team are just trying to appease to such low standards, that even Rednecks would turn up their noses and scoff at such “Say-va-jury” and thus, is helping the Sonic brand make a nosedive to the gutter (if it wasn’t already IN the gutter). But from a long term perspective, they’re trying to build back a broken trust with their consumers. Instead of pulling a Konami, a Platinum, or an Arc Sys and attack their fans every time they have a poke at them, SEGA is now joining the fun and providing a human presence to the company (or at least the North American and European divisions; Japan remains a stoic indifference outside company sanctioned appearences and the occasional Crush 40 concert). It’s Damage Control, plain and simple, and Sonic needs some of this as badly as he needs a quality control as well.
Why are people complaining about the certainty of the 25th Anniversary game being a Classic-like experience and how Modern Sonic isn’t being used mush anymore? It’s almost like a large amount of the fanbase for a few years(really since Sonic 4 ep 1’s announcement) was basically yelling at Sega to bring Sonic truly back into the basics and origins of his gameplay. Then I heard the clamor inn for Classic Sonic, and now all of a sudden I hear the clamoring for Modern Sonic. For God’s sake, make up your dang minds people!
I could care less if the games were Modern or Classic or even Boom focused as long as the game is good. Sonic 1: Good, Sonic 2: Great, Sonic 3&k: Amazing, Sonic CD: Kinda Meh, Sonic Adventure 1: Great, Sonic Adventure 2: Great, Sonic Heroes: Pretty Good, Shadow: Awful, Sonic 06: Pretty terrible, Secret Rings: Oh God *barfs*, Sonic Unleashed: Pretty Great, Black Knight: Pretty Great, Sonic 4 ep1: Kinda Meh, Sonic Colors: Amazing, Sonic Generations: Amazing, Sonic 4 ep2: Pretty good, Sonicl Lost World: Pretty good, ROL: Worse than 06, Shattered Crystal: Alright, 25th Anniversary that’s probably gonna be classic styled: Could be good, could be bad but more than likely pretty good and up considering most more recent “classic-like experiences” have been pretty good and up (pretty good being better than meh, but not quite good). Both classic and modern can be amazing as shown by S3&k, Colors, and Generations. Lighten up people, at least this game will be at least pretty good/decent unless it’s the first classic like experience that is below that standard.
well sonic generations was ok but i was thinking they should call it a new sonic game title in 2016 Sonic Origins.
Why?
why you ask?
Yeah, why do you keep harping on “Sonic Origins”? Do you mean a reboot like Raymam Origins or the origins of the current non-Boom game Sonic? If it’s the latter, I don’t see the point.
Trying to give Sega Sonic an origin is like trying to give Mickey Mouse, Felix the Cat, or Bugs Bunny an origin story. He just doesn’t need one y’know? They’re just wacky cartoon animals doing wacky things in wacky worlds, what needs explaining?
dude i know what you meant but it could be
After the snafu in 2014, it makes a ton of sense for Sega to keep a low profile this year. Don’t do anything TOO different or big and all that stuff. But it can’t be quiet forever, and it seems to have a lot of plans for 2016. I know a lot of fans have complained about the lack of a major console titles this year, but honestly, I think that’s a good thing. Sonic Team isn’t rushing out a game before its ready and instead giving it another year, which means that the next game will be, at the very least, polished. But with all the SA3, Gens. 2, LW2, etc. speculation circulating the web, I only hope that fans aren’t too disappointed when the game they’ve been anticipating doesn’t get announced. That would not be fun…
“2016, it’ll be a classic.”
We can only pray that its a good classic… Signs point to 2016 at the very least not being terrible right now, so I am feeling good.
Huh. An article where I almost entirely agree with what Hogfather says. 😛 Cool! Love this feeling.
2015 has been… weird for Sonic. Not a disaster, as some would say. Just odd. The first ever year for Sonic without a game. I mean retail games here, I should say. The TV series for Sonic Boom held strong. The social media accounts have… actually made fair progress in crowd control. And jeepers, the mobile games are still alive and running. I actually really do like Sonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom, as a freeware mobile Sonic game. It leaves a much better taste in my mouth than Sonic Runners. And Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice……… hasn’t gotten any news aside from its announcement. Unlike a radical portion of the fanbase, I really do hope it isn’t canceled.
And that brings us to 2016. What do I want? I want an anniversary to remember in a positive way. Specifically, I’d like it if Sonic would just… expand. Don’t recede into Classic nostalgia, but rather channel what was good back then into something new. A new anniversary game, Olympics, Sonic Boom, and honestly, I’d like some other spin-off, but that’s just me.
What do I predict? … Well, that’s a toughie. I don’t think the movie’s going to happen next year (but it’s very possible), I expect Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice to meet lukewarm reception at BEST (if even) regardless of how good the game may be, I expect the Olympic titles to be rather good party games that…. still will probably be laughed at (can’t argue with that, actually), and for the big anniversary title, EVERY sign I have seen only points to one thing: Classic Sonic. The only thing that hasn’t pointed to that is the Sonic Character Showdown the social media accounts did to see what characters people would enjoy seeing in future games. They intentionally pit Sticks against Shadow to see really just how many people DID like her. But how much of an impact will that make? Don’t know. All I know is that next year will be an entirely different beast than this year.
Since we’re only speculating at this point, I think the movie might happen next year as a contender against the Ratchet & Clank one, honestly but, of course, as I’m not working on it and nothing’s being said, I can’t truthfully say any more than yourself on the matter. We can only speculate.
I would think so too (as well as the Sly movie, and I believe the FNAF’s movie), but there’s a chance SEGA may not put it out, under fear that the competition will be received better. For Sonic’s anniversary, I’m not sure if they’d want that. Plus, we have very little info on it at the current moment, I’m not sure if it’d come out in less than a year from its teaser trailer.
True, true although we haven’t had much in the way of more info from any of these other game movies aside from the Ratchet one and that was only in recent months so there’s still time yet.
True, you have a good point.
I really don’t think we should be assuming Sonic Boom Fire & Ice is cancelled until it’s announced as such. To me, claiming it has been cancelled just feels like scaremongering as a way to bully/tease the people who actually like the games (not saying you’re necessarily doing that but it does feel like it to me). The lack of info is probably just because they don’t want to give too much away too soon, as used to be the norm with these things and I’m cool with that, if I’m correct in my assumption. My biggest pet peeve with modern game devs and gamers is that we get practically the entire game spoiled for us before launch and now, the gamers actually expect that to happen. What happened to part of the fun, the adventure, being discovering all the new stuff the game has to offer by playing it? I’m especially looking at you, Super Smash Bros. for WiiU and 3DS…
On another note: Oh lord, you actually WANT the Sonic Hello Kitty to continue its sorry existence? o_o I’m sorry but to me, it’s like if there was a Sonic-themed Barbie… (PS. This is to be interpreted as simply a difference in opinion, NOT a hate speech towards the writer of the article)
All of this aside, I do agree. 2015 has been a pretty lackluster year for us Sonic fans, between the only major console release being a Eggman-sized flop, mobile games being the only really decent game releases and the appalling merchandise releases in some countries (although I, myself, can only really speak for England there).
Remind me again where in the article we claimed fire and ice had been cancelled?
Well, ok, you said it feels like it has but even just saying that seems like a really bad way to go about the whole situation considering there’s a lot of people in the fandom who will interpret that the same way I did, especially since you’re staff on one of the biggest Sonic news sites. It also seems like a bit of a strange way to think about it since I believe you grew up with the same sort of gaming background as myself, where this sort of thing (announcement then no news until close to launch aside from maybe the occasional teaser) was the norm so really you should be in the right position to actually think “Hold on, maybe that’s what they’re doing to prevent giving too much away before launch.” instead of just going with the conclusion the modern kids jump to.
As a side note: There was no need to be such a jerk, especially when I was being incredibly reasonable. Maybe try treating people differently depending on how they, themselves behave instead of treating everyone the same way in future. You’ll cause a lot less grief that way. I can also tell you’re going to give the whole “You can’t tell me how to do my job” spiel so I’ll save you that energy by saying yes, I do have a right to tell you this when what you’re doing is wrong, causes so much grief on the site you’re supposed to prevent it on and would, under any other job title (aside from maybe businessman) and on any other site, get you fired or kicked out if you’re not officially employed.
No offence but if people say that I said it was cancelled when I didn’t, that’s really not my problem it’s theirs.
Also I don’t think you can get fired for pointing out someone was barking up the wrong tree. And come on, stop being so sensitive, you really take being asked to point out where it was said that the game has been cancelled as being somehow offensive? Really?
I’m not banking on anything yet, but if SEGA’s ever going to get it right, it has to be this year of all of them. Unleashed through Generations was superb establishment and refinement of a new Sonic, and even if Lost World undid that identity in terms of gameplay, I can still be happy with another game using those mechanics (provided they make the levels less mish-mash and abstract, I personally prefer Unleashed/Generations type levels). Hell, I wouldn’t even mind if we just got a 2D game, so long as it was fresh and interesting and fun to play (don’t get me wrong, Sonic 3 is one of my all time favourites, but 2D Sonic games have been lacking of late, imo). As long as whatever we get is fun (for the right reasons, not for another infinite jumping glitch fiasco), then I will lap it up and practically throw SEGA my wallet (granted, I’m not sure how much they’d find in there…).
Okay then. Let’s see what I think.
Yes, it was a boring year. Little to nothing happened, and that probably amplified the impact of the stuff that did happen, both good and bad.
First, frankly, I don’t understand the Runners criticism. I guess this might be because I have zero interest in getting characters other than the ones I have, but I don’t feel any more forced into microtransactions than I did when the soft launch happened. I remarked a while ago that I was surprised to have no technical problems with the game, being the only guy who couldn’t get his licensed 360 controller to work with Lost World, the only one not being able to get Generations to run at sporadic intervals, etc. and basically the “guy with technical difficulties” wherever I go. That said, I don’t play the game nearly as much as some people here, and honestly since getting lives isn’t a problem and I have zero cares about character stats and just play to play, I never run out of lives or things to do in the game since it is, in fact, a mobile game and doesn’t give me much incentive to keep playing if I somehow do run out of lives anyway. I still play it more than Dash 2, so that means something about it is still more fun than that. I’m not saying it hasn’t gotten worse, or that I don’t pity those who spent money on it or whatever, it’s just that the problems others have hold so little bearing on my experience of the game that I can’t call it the worst thing ever without my voice doing that thing where it sounds like I’m trying to make fun of sappy and tearful people even if I’m not.
Now, Fire and Ice. I think there’s a lot of jumping to conclusions here, and while I have no way to prove it’s still happening or whatever, there’s nothing to say the opposite either. It looked as good as if not better than the meh-okay Shattered Crystal, and honestly I can’t see much concern regardless of it’s release status. It either is or isn’t, and I’m not going to be melodramatic no matter what happens. And this, coming from the guy who continues to defend Rise of Lyric, means that if I don’t care that much, what the hell are y’all getting your panties twisted about?
Boom season 1 was a good start to the show. It was wacky, cool, nonstop (uh, that being the show’s humor, not the episode schedule), got some stuff past the radar, and was just dang fun to watch. From the very start it was the main draw to the Boom franchise, and it looks like it’s gonna stay that way. I really hope they push their boundaries in future episodes, because if staying safe is this good, imagine what they can do if they go beyond the limits of their creativity.
World’s Unite wasn’t very good. It reeked of cash-grab and fanservice, and because they were so blatant, I’m not even blaming Flynn for it. Sounds like he was really kinda trapped in a corner on that one. That said, the eight issues that have been released since then (StH and SU) were so good I’ve pretty much forgotten what happened there anyway.
Dash 2 is better than Dash 1. There’s not much substance to it though, and that’s why I haven’t played it very much. It’s whatever.
Lost World PC…neat. I remember fiercely defending this one for being good (unlike Rise of Lyric, which I defended as “not really good but you sound like a fucking lunatic please stop”) when it came out, and now…? I think I like it more, but I don’t think it’s as good, but I also think it’s still good, if you follow (or if you don’t follow, I can’t really predict that). It’s still fun, they still don’t explain half the stuff Sonic can do but you also don’t need most of it anyway so the time spent developing that should have been used on it’s awful half-baked story, and yeah. It’s Lost World. Hope to see more mods, hope to see Colors on PC.
…And that’s it. That’s the stuff I cared about this year. In complete, it was a year of not a whole lot, and people not knowing how to keep their cool about generally mundane things. Runners’ soft launch wasn’t that great, and it’s current state isn’t that terrible. Fire and Ice isn’t that mysterious or conspiracy theory, and the Boom show is pretty okay. World’s Unite was meh and so is Dash 2. I think the Lost World PC response was probably the most fitting to it’s situation of “oh that’s neat, we’ll get to see some cool mods or whatever”. Even now I still see things that say “If SEGA’s ever going to do something right…” or “It’s too bad we’re not gonna see another Sonic game because Sega is clearly dead as evidenced by the fact that they’re standing up asking the crazy person why he’s talking to himself” between here, Youtube, other forums, etc. even though I saw all those comments last year, and the year before that, and so on. Either we, Sega or both of us is just taking the piss and I’m honestly getting tired of it.
i hope the 25th anniversary be in all home consoles even nintendo WIi U but still i don’t know what SEGA are planning for next year sonic game but i can tell it might be something big so SEGA will get fans back and earn there trust again but i’m sure SEGA will be starting something up for next year sonic game and make a awesomne anniversary that the fans will love but many fans don’t like sonic 06.
“. But… is it just me, or at least for UK peoples, it’s amazingly hard to find certain figures? I’m sure my local Entertainer has only had 2 Eggman figures in and Orbot & Cutbot are also hard to find.”
Here’s a fun fact, I work in the Entertainer, and unfortunately, the Sonic Boom merchandise we do get is lacking, I think, throughout the year sincei t came out, we onl ever got 4 Eggman figures and 4 Orbot/Cubot packs. TOMY didn’t provide us with a lot.
Wow! Good job on F4F wanting to use your design for the statue!